October 28, 2011

According to a Fox Sports report, Jerry Dipoto will be named the new general manager of the Los Angeles Angels.

That means he won’t be the new GM of the Orioles.

And there is going to be some grousing about that among the Orioles’ fan base.

Dipoto, the senior vice president of the Arizona Diamondbacks, was the first candidate the Orioles interviewed last week, and I believe he was the favorite to get this job, slightly ahead of Toronto Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava.

I even wrote that I thought Dipoto might be more interested in the Orioles over the Angels, partially because I thought the Orioles were in a better position to make an offer quicker since the Angels were interviewing more clients. And Dipoto, who had been a finalist at other places, seemed ready to take the job in hand.

But the Orioles didn’t finish up their search faster. They are interviewing a fourth candidate, John Stockstill, now and may interview at least a fifth person.

Now, I’m not sure how close that race was between Dipoto and LaCava, so I can’t say for sure the Orioles lost their No. 1 guy (something many fans would say is typical). And we’ll never know for sure because certainly the team won’t spin it that way as they hire someone else.

LaCava may have crept into that top spot this week, so Dipoto's being off the board may not have mattered anyway. And I know the Orioles liked Los Angeles Dodgers assistant GM De Jon Watson as well.

LaCava is now obviously the favorite to be the new Orioles GM. But write that in pencil. I’ve learned over the years that nothing is official with the Orioles until it is official.

Comments

Seriously, are the Orioles seeing if they can become the first team to botch a GM signing? What is taking so long at this point. There are not any better options available, stop dragging the feet and bring LaCava on board. This must get done. I have no issue with DiPoto going to LAA I just feel like it shows the lack of a plan/urgency from Angelos and Co.

Let's all jump on the Orioles and how horrible they are as an organization!
In all seriousness, this move (or lack thereof) looks horrible for the O's. I understand if Tony LaCava is your guy, but why allow another organization make that decision for you? Interviewing guys like John Stockstill is simply a waste of time. Interview the best guys and make a quick, direct decision. Having to wait around like this is just ridiculous. This is why as long as Peter Angelos is the guy signing the checks, the Orioles will never be taken seriously.

The O's will screw this up by the weekend & one of the biggest reasons we are horrible years after landing his job will be named GM by default.
How in God's name John Stockskill can even still have a job with this club let alone interview for the GM spot simply proves nothing will ever change here.
They drag their feet & the best move on...how often has this petty quibbling cost this organization?
John effein Stockskill...you have to be freakin kidding me.
We now are officially the most stupid franchise in North America & we deserve to be laughed at.
The only timely decision the Oriole brass can make on time is which freakin bird to wear on their caps. Priorities are a little off at the warehouse...as they have been for 14 years & running strong.
John Stockskill...I'm going to puke!

1st of all Peter Angelos probable had no idea as to whom he was interviewing. Do you really believe that he really knew who any of those guys were before he interviewed them? His advisers told him about them. Otherwise he wouldn’t have known them from Adam! As for the urgency, who knows! Let’s be honest, Angelos has ticked off so many people during his ownership, why would any half way decent GM come to “Charm City”? My guess is Dipoto had no intentions of ever coming here. I say that’s a good thing! I can’t wait for his press conference tomorrow and the first words out of his mouth. Boy, it was really a tough decision to come to the Angels, instead of the Orioles……blah,blah, blah! I do hope he also talks about how he looks forward to working with Dan Haren again. I can’t wait!
PS I love how people around here think I am guilty of the Sin of Omission, I really do. The other thing that is funny as well, some O’s fans think I am biased. How can a person who is just a blogger be biased, just out of curiosity?

I agree with what Andrew says above: it seems the Angels made a decisive move and now the Orioles have to make a reactive one. I wonder if DiPoto informed the O's of his Angels offer, and whether the Orioles then said, "Okay, take it." Short of that, it's weak by the Orioles. Once again.

I basically know nothing about these guys, but I did sort of like the idea of getting an AL East guy, so if LaCava is the man then perhaps it's for the best.

Maybe they're just waiting to interview Levine and maybe not. The Orioles have always been ponderously slow under Angelos and this is just further evidence of it. There's no reason for this to drag out other than Angelos is gumming up the works again. How long will it be before Buck and any other competent baseball man gets fed up and can no longer take Angelos' inaction when action is absolutely called for?

John,
I hope you're right. It sure would be nice to actually hire someone who was actually a fan of the Orioles when they were good.
And it doesn't hurt that he believes, "I think it’s the team that has the most premium talent evaluators and I think that’s the asset that is the most scarce in our game and if you as a franchise have multiple gifted talent evaluators, count yourself lucky, pay them handsomely, do whatever you can to retain them, because in my humble opinion that’s the competitive advantage in the game."
Imagine that, someone who believes the scouting department should know what it's doing before they draft someone!

Why should anybody be upset about the inability of the orioles to do anything right.Sure dan you can expect them to say that dipoto wasn't there guy what else do you think they are going to say, they are a laughing stock around the league and they are a complete laughing stock to the community that supports them. They do the same things when they sign free agents, they wait for everybody else to be gone and then they pay the ones that are left more then they are worth. The problem is that the media in this town has let them get away with it for so long it doesn't matter. Anybody that is hired by this organization is usually the 3rd or 4th choice including showwalter because either nobody will accept the job or by the time the orioles act the other ones are already gone.All the promise's about trying to do things different are just that promises Shame on this organization and shame on the fans that continue to support them.

Jon, stop making sense! I bet three quarters of the posters read your comment and their heads exploded!

From everything I've read here and elsewhere, there was little difference between LaCava and Dipoto and Watson is also highly regarded, so having the Angels take Dipoto helps the Orioles. But I doubt anyone will see it that way.

I would now say that the choice comes down to LaCava and Levine(they wouldn't have waited this long to hire someone unless they really wanted to hear from Levine and there must be some interest on Levine's part?, with Watson very close.

We don't deserve the first choice, ever, under this regime. We're the Orioles! We don't even lend support to a private effort to honor the great Brooks Robinson! Just more of the same. Gotten used to it.

It seemed, to me, that the Angels were taking a long time, that they were interviewing everybody under the sun including Adam (whom Angelos would not know from Jerry Dipoto, someone suggested). Now the Orioles have outlasted the Angels. There really is no rush. As long as they get the deal done by Monday.

While other owners play money ball and three dimensional chess, Angelos plays Little Jack Horner, sitting in the corner with his piles of asbestos-derived cash, declaring to the world: "What a good boy am I!" On second thought, maybe he's more like Crabby Appleton (rotten to the core) or Boris Badenov of Rocky and Bullwinkle fame, or Phineas T. Bluster, or Inspector Clouseau, or Mister Trouble, the guy who never hangs around when he hears Mighty Mouse's mighty sound.

The best farm system and organization are being show-cased in the World Series tonight. Look at the job the Rangers have done and how they have developed their talent. Wait until after the Series and see who the Orioles interview from that organization and we might be pleasantly surprised. I think Buck is personally orchestrating this process and has a serious connection in the Rangers organization. I sure hope so.

I prefered Lacava over Dipoto anyway. Don't get me wrong, Dipoto would've been a fine choice. But the big reason why he was #1 on the GM list is because he has 2 months experience as a interim GM. Based on what I've read about Lacava, I still feel Lacava is the better choice. On the other hand, interviewing Stockstill sounds more like a formality, and a total waste of time.

Typical stumbling, bumbling move by the sawed off ambulance chaser. That's what losers do - no sense of urgency, no leadership, no creativity, just plod along at your snail's pace as the rest of the league passes you by. Some things never change; death, taxes and Zorba the Geek.

How could I predict that the same gripers would complain - if Dipoto had been hired they would immediately say that the owner picked the wrong guy. We had a good GM but it did not work out. You just don't hire the first guy that comes in the door. Give the field manager a chance to work with the new GM and come up with some talent and be patient. It looks pretty silly when you see the Oriole games on television in such a beautiful ball park that is mostly empty. I guess a lot of Baltimore baseball fans would rather moan and groan instead of rooting on the team.

Digger1,rooting on the team?What planet have you been on for the last 10 years or 5 years of losing happens to a lot of teams outside of Boston,New York,St.Louis and now Texas and Tampa Bay.But after 14 or 15 years or more,what is there left to root for.A close game?An individual achievement? .Not losing 100 games?Give me a break,you apologist for Peter the Geek.

Post a comment

All comments must be approved by the blog author. Please do not resubmit comments if they do not immediately appear. You are not required to use your full name when posting, but you should use a real e-mail address. Comments may be republished in print, but we will not publish your e-mail address. Our full Terms of Service are available here.

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments:

Verification (needed to reduce spam):

-- ADVERTISEMENT --

About the bloggers

A Baltimore native, Dan Connolly has been covering sports for 14 years, and baseball and the Orioles for 10 seasons, including the past six with The Sun. His first year covering baseball on a daily basis was Cal Ripken Jr.'s final season as a player. It's believed that is just a coincidence.

Steve Gould is an assistant sports editor for The Sun, overseeing Orioles coverage. The Columbia native joined The Sun as a sports copy editor in 2006 after graduating from the University of Maryland.

Peter Schmuck has been covering baseball for a lot longer than Steve Gould has been on this earth. He is now a general sports columnist, but has been a beat writer covering three major league teams (the Dodgers, Angels and Orioles) and also spent a decade as the Sun's national baseball writer. If you want more of his insight on the Orioles and other sports issues, check out his personal blog -- The Schmuck Stops Here.